Dogfish Head will be going back to the future in 2024 with a refreshed logo that pays homage to its nearly two-decades old logo, marketing director Jennie Baver shared during Boston Beer’s national sales meeting last week.
The company will also roll out 4-packs of 12% ABV rum, tequila and vodka canned cocktails.
Here are highlights of Dogfish Head’s presentation.
New Logo Coming in Summer 2024
In a pre-recorded message, Dogfish Head co-founder Sam Calagione called the brand’s shark and shield logo the brand’s “strongest asset.”
Consumer panels over the last year revealed that Dogfish Head drinkers preferred the older logo, with a more modern twist. The new Dogfish Head logo and packaging, which will lean into the brand’s coastal roots, will begin to roll out next summer.
Boston Beer asked that images of new logos and product be kept under wraps for now.
New Seasonal, Art Series Beers
Dogfish Head’s quarterly variety packs will feature either “a new beer, an innovation or an exclusive,” Baver said.
The seasonal rotation includes:
- Spring: Coldest IPA (7% ABV);
- Summer: Festina Peche neo-Berliner Weisse (4.5% ABV);
- Fall: Tasty Traveler Lager (5% ABV), a Japanese-style version of the beer, featuring jasmine rice, wildflower honey and lemongrass;
- Winter: A new IPA.
Covered in Nuggs IPA (6.7% ABV), which Baver said is the top-selling beer in Dogfish Head’s pubs, will also join the Art Series lineup in Q4. The IPA is “dank” and “piney” and will join existing Art Series beers Nordic Spring IPA, Mandarin & Mango Crush and Punkin Ale.
Dogfish’s higher ABV Caution Cap Series will feature a new release to go along with spring release 120 Minute IPA. Affogato World Wide Stout will launch in the back half of the year.
In the Atlantic division, Dogfish Head will launch an IPA variety 12-pack featuring Hazy Squall, 60 Minute, 90 Minute, and Slightly Mighty.
Dogfish Head’s beer push will include media, creators and collaborations, including a yet-to-be-revealed collab with Dan O’s seasoning.
- Q1 will be centered around football, including Dogfish’s official sponsorship of the Electric Football World Championship, and continually hopped IPAs 60 Minute and 90 Minute;
- Q2 will be built around “beer geeks with a music problem,” including Dogfish’s Record Store Day partnership and a promotion to send a winner to a concert of their choice;
- Q3 will mark the launch of new packaging, and the company’s biggest campaign of the year, with coastal-inspired POS, the brand’s “largest media spend of the year” and influencer marketing.
High ABV Canned Cocktails Coming in Spring
Dogfish Head canned cocktails will launch three 12% ABV offerings in 4-packs in spring 2024, including:
- Rum Mai Tai pineapple and orange;
- Vodka Mule passion fruit and lime;
- And Tequila Margarita strawberry and lime.
All three will be part of the mix for updated variety packs, including refreshed versions of the vodka-centric Bar Cart and Tropical Crush 8-packs that launch in the spring.
In states with alcohol caps, these three offerings will be available at 7% ABV, Baver added.
Calagione said the goal is to become a top three spirits-based ready-to-drink canned cocktail (RTD) brand family. In Circana’s total U.S. off-premise channels, Dogfish Head is a top 10 brand family in dollar sales. However, in the liquor channel, Dogfish Head is the No. 4 RTD brand family in sales.
The ask for Dogfish’s distributors is to attack the liquor channel and match the brand’s beer distribution, Baver said. She added that distributors should lead with 4-packs of Strawberry Vodka Lemonade, the third fastest-growing RTD cocktail 4-pack in Circana year-to-date data through late August, while supplementing with 8-packs of Dogfish’s Bar Cart, the No. 1 8-pack, and Crush, the No. 3 pack.
Dogfish Head canned cocktails will receive refreshed packaging next year, with a new logo and packaging that calls out the styles and fruit flavors. The can image will move to a side panel. Boston Beer’s research shows that the new packaging design cuts the “time to find on shelf” in half compared to existing packaging, Baver said.
Boston Beer will double-down on its digital media spend to get it in front of consumers and to get cans in hands, Baver said. Programming includes a summer of cocktails campaign – which will be one of Dogfish’s biggest media spends of the year – and a holiday program, starting in November.
Slingers Cocktails Expanding in 2024
Beyond Dogfish Head cocktails, Boston Beer’s Slingers Seasonal Cocktails will expand in 2024 beyond its launch markets of southern New Hampshire, Cleveland and Pittsburgh.
The brand will go statewide in New Hampshire, Ohio and Pennsylvania, while adding Vermont, Wisconsin and Nevada to its footprint, via 33 wholesalers.
Boston Beer also shared its 2024 plans for Samuel Adams, Angry Orchard, Truly Hard Seltzer and Twisted Tea. Read Brewbound’s coverage here.